Saturday, May 2, 2009

I am not really going to break down Bill's column today, well maybe just a little bit, but I will be commenting on it probably a little more. Unfortunately I am also able to follow him on Twitter, which annoys me also, because he is completely able to talk about Boston sports all he wants since it is his own personal little mini-blog. I can't rip the Boston Sports Guy like I do for his ESPN posts. Let's do a little review of Bill's Twitter first, I will get to his column and then I will do a self referential and pop culture count to cap off the day.

And now, a new segment: "Links I enjoyed this week for whatever reason." OK, the title needs work.Hey, that's like the "Ten Things..." I do every couple of weeks. I am stealing from Bill Simmons obviously because he does everything first...or is he stealing from me? Or are neither he nor I the first one to put a group of links together? (Seriously, anything you write on a blog, at some point, someone is going to say Bill Simmons did it first. It happened to me and I can't remember when, what or where someone said I did...I wish I could. I think it had to do with a joke, which we all know Bill has told every joke before everyone else and better than everyone else.)

Rajon Rondo should sue Bill Simmons and Bob Ryan for even lumping him in as being halfway similar to a baseball player that hits .290/.305/.333. That is a Francouerian level of an OBP...ok, maybe not that bad, but still. If Rajon Rondo was the 15th best PG in the league, it is still wrong to compare him to Ellsbury and he should still sue. Sorry, I have a vendetta against Ellsbury ever since he hit well against the Rockies two years ago in the World Series and everyone proclaimed him the "next great Red Sox CF" and I just knew this wasn't true.

But hey, he stole home against the Yankees last week and that makes you awesome in the eyes of ESPN and Bob Ryan.

For his picture, Bill has a photo of him and what appears to be a human infant child on his back. I didn't know he had kids. Why doesn't he ever mention them?

I have to admit the Chicago-Boston series is a pretty good series but I leave it to Bill to go all hyperbolic over the rainbow about the series.

Here is the thing that annoys me. Every fan base has moments in their team's history that everyone in that fan base remembers and treasures more than many other things they should actually treasure in their life. These are things that make it worth it to be a fan of that team. You can probably think of one right now...except if you are a Lions fan (sorry AJ)...Though I am sure a Barry Sanders run is in there somewhere...and I am going to quit picking on the Lions.

What Bill does is he takes these moments and instead of having them mean a whole lot in the realm of Celtics lore, he manages to try and make these moments or the series as the case is here, the reason that EVERYONE watches sports. Rather than take these moments and speak to them as a microcosm of that team's own history, he takes the moments his team has and ties them into why we all love sports. Rather than this series being important to Celtics fans, he thinks it is so important it should be important to ANYONE who watches sports. If this makes sense, he has an inflated sense of how important events that his team takes part in are to sports overall. I think it may be because he is the type of only child who thinks everything is about him. For example, I would guess a Lakers or Cavs fan doesn't give a shit who wins the series, sure they will watch and appreciate the series but the importance of the series for Bill doesn't transfer to them, which I think Bill actually believes it should. I am rambling but basically I think Bill thinks his team's important moments are important moments for the sport as a whole, when they are not.

The winner of the Heat-Hawks Game 7 (yes, there is another series currently being played) has just as much at stake as the winner of the Chicago-Boston series, it just happens the Chicago-Boston series is a much interesting series.

"Two and a half minutes left and we have the ball. Again, they can't stop us. So Doc brings in our worst player -- our least intelligent player, our most ineffective player, the master of the fantastic drive/missed layup -- and takes out Big Baby when he was our second-best player tonight? And all because Chicago went small? SO WE'RE REACTING TO A DESPERATION COACHING MOVE BY VINNY DEL NEGRO!!!!! REALLY, THAT'S WHAT WE DID?????????"Isn't it weird how all of a sudden Doc Rivers became a great head coach at the exact same time his team got much better players?

Whatever happens in Game 7, we will remember it as one of the most incredible matchup in NBA playoff history.That would be "matchups" with an "s" and if the game tonight is a blowout one way or another, I will have to argue this point.

I hate ranking games and series anyway, but I think a good Game 7 is crucial to the memory of this series as one of the greatest ever.

Rajon Rondo turned into Isiah Thomas, The Sequel: Just as talented, just as hated, just as nasty.I think he is still a step below. Let's not compare a Hall of Fame player who led his team to two NBA Titles to a young point guard who has the potential to do great things, but hasn't proven he can do the same things as Isiah when the team doesn't have three Hall of Fame players on it and he is forced to lead. Isiah was the leader of teams that had Joe Dumars, Adrian Dantley, Dennis Rodman, Mark Aguirre and Vinnie Johnson on them at certain points. Rondo has not had to be that leader quite yet. I think we should just wait a little bit longer to start lumping him in with Isiah, no matter how shitty of a coach/GM/person he has become.

John Salmons and Glen Davis put themselves on the map as bona-fide NBA players.I personally felt John Salmons was there already...but a series against the great and mighty Celtics is all that he lacked. If he can play well against them, he is now considered a bonafide player. Until you play well against the Celtics, in Bill's mind, you are nothing.

I watched every moment of this series and can't remember how many times Derrick Rose wheeled into the lane, spun one way or the other and either scooped in a layup or a floating one-hander. He does it again and again and again. He does it whenever he wants. This has nothing to do with Rondo's defense with or without a hurt ankle. Nothing to see here. Please disperse.

I have never seen a better athlete play point guard.Until tomorrow when Rondo will have that crown and make 5 plays a game no one else in the NBA can make.

And when everything clicks, it's blissful. I am hearing from people who haven't e-mailed me in years. Readers are sending me 700-word e-mails. The thing that keeps jumping out: Even fans without rooting interests have gotten swept up in this series. How can you not?Look, its a great series and everyone knows Bill is a Celtics fan so they will email him about the series. People are interested, but I don't think this series is transcending sports and is more important than any other series.

"Bulls-Celtics 2009" explains why we put up with every story about Clemens and Bonds and Michael Vick and Terrell Owens and everyone else who conspires to make sports less fun.I hope everyone can see what I am saying. He is saying this series makes up for EVERYONE all the other shit we have to deal with from sports. I don't know if that is true honestly, maybe it is for some people, but I don't think a Spurs fan is exactly pumped up right now thinking, "thank God for that Chicago-Boston series, if it weren't for that series, I would give up." It is this trumped sense of self importance of his teams that Bill has that drives me crazy. Sure, this series seems important...because ESPN has published 100 columns about it and their most popular Page 2 writer has written about it a couple times a week every week for three weeks now. If I wrote about something on this blog every day, it gives that something the appearance of more importance because those who read it constantly get bombarded with information about it. I am rambling again...

And what's worse than a Jo-No celebration at the expense of your own team?Call him "Noah." Anyone who has watched college basketball knows exactly who you are talking about.

I will always appreciate this Bulls team because they did the impossible: They made a fan base that just won a title care even MORE about their own team.Self centered.........He doesn't appreciate the Bulls for almost/beating or beating the defending champion Celtics but he appreciates them because they helped him out by making him care more about his team.

I don't even care what happens after Game 7; we can't beat the LeBrons anyway.Really Bill? That's how it is going to be?

The Celtics fans feel that way, and so do the Bulls fans. I can promise you.You don't actually speak for the Celtic fan base asshole. My NBA Finals is two series from now. Speak for yourself, but don't try to speak for two entire fan bases. You can't and you don't.

Rufus was dragging like Ray Allen at the end of that third overtime. I felt bad for him. He looked at me like he was thinking, "Please Lord, never again." He demolished his first bowl of water in 2.34 seconds. He demolished the second one in 5.67 seconds. Then he passed out. He might not wake up until tomorrow.This series tires out dogs...but even they can appreciate it.

Just remember to call it the greatest first-round series ever played.Let's allow the series end first.

I hope and pray it doesn't end with me taking a walk. If so, let it be into traffic and only let your typing hand (he pecks at the keyboard for those who have never seen video of him type) be injured.

(Warning: You can skip this following part if you want and go to the self reference and pop culture counts, the following is not funny nor exciting)

I will always have a personal bone to pick with Bill. I was born in the early, early, early 1980's when it was hard for someone who lived 10 miles from Charlotte to find an NBA team to cheer for. I watched a lot of TBS for the Braves games and they also showed the NBA, and my best friend growing up was from Boston, so I naturally gravitated to the Celtics. Of course for the purpose of making me 20 years later have to explain myself a lot, then Charlotte got a team in 1988 and I attended every Celtics-Hornets game and had a sort of duel teamship for a few years (I know, I am a horrible person...call me what you want), but always liked the Celtics the best. I remember where I was when Reggie Lewis died (on the floor of my house watching a Braves-Rockies game), hated it when Dominique Wilkins joined the team and finally I quit the Hornets in the mid 90's when I realized George Shinn needed to burn in Hell.

I ramble and share this boring story about all of this because Bill Simmons and the Boston craze of the past several years absolutely ruined any good feelings I have about the championship last year. I am actually embarrassed to be a fan of the team...seriously. I chose 4 of my 5 favorite sports teams when I was between the ages of 4-6, I can't exactly turn back now. The mini-Celtics basketball I got when I was 6 years old I have in my office reeks of shame and self hatred. I was actually excited when Garnett was out for the playoffs because I didn't feel like such a front runner (which is what dumb people will naturally think of me, but when you can bust out with old memorabilia it tends to shut people up...I did not watch football at all until the Panthers came along and now it is my favorite sport) and I thought, "well now I can openly cheer like I have done in the past when the Celtics were bad." When Bill writes shitty columns like this, it causes the oversaturation point of Celtics to come to a head again and it pisses me off. So today, I am embarrassed as I write and Bill is to blame. I am actually semi-afraid a regular reader will be like, "he cheers for the Celtics, fuck him, I am done reading this shit," and it is all thanks to Bill Simmons and oversaturation of Boston sports...that is absurd to think but I still worry because everyone hears Boston this and Boston that. Well, that was our Full House moment of the day.

But I am of course objective and critical about all of my favorite teams...because being a fan boy cheerleader is a shitty thing to be. You have to be realistic.

Self referential count: 4 (I think Bill's mailbags are the worst because of the Simmonsites/SimmonsClones)

Pop culture reference count: 6.

For our Easterbrook challenge:

Jarvis Moss, Derrick Harvey, Marcus Thomas: bad, too early, bad

Ted Ginn, Anthony Gonzalez: good and good (that team also included Brian Robeskie and Brian Hartline but they haven't played in the NFL yet, so I do not count them.)

Great article and event though I agree the comparison between the Duke lacrosse case and A-Rod is not a good comparison at all, I think the way she treated that case just three years ago gives us insight to how she will treat A-Rod.

I think similar to that case where the dancer was the accuser and the lacrosse players the accused, it became perfectly fine to try and judge the behavior of the accused players but any type of judgment on the behavior of the accuser automatically "put her on trial." Basically it is fine to destroy the reputation of an accused person in the search for the truth, but to look at the accuser in the same way is seen as wrong and unjust.

In this situation Selena Roberts is the accuser in some ways and A-Rod is the accused. If she is going to drag his name down with her book, I think it is perfectly fine to look into her previous articles to see how she handles journalistically situations where wrongdoing could be found.

I find the idea she furthers that any type of change at Duke is a good thing, regardless of how it is done to make me feel uneasy. There is a certain type of opening the can of worms when it comes to steroid users. Its ok to judge Barry Bonds and A-Rod's personal life and professional life now that they have been suspected of wrong doing, because that one incident of wrong doing could lead to other wrong doing. I think Roberts just wants to make a statement and be treated like she matters...so she is trying really hard.

a.) Everyone already knows that A-Rod took steroids and that steroids is a problem in baseball (or "was a problem" if, well, if you're naive)

b.) Everyone, even his supporters, pretty much already knows that A-Rod is more or less an unlikable pudwhacker.

So all she's left with is to grasp at straws like "A-Rod might have used steroids in high school!" or "Some of A-Rod's teammates suspected him of tipping pitches!" or "A-Rod didn't get his own coffee!"

This book jumped the shark a few months ago, they really need to go ahead and just put the book out at this point, which they are. As I have said several times, if the pitch tipping is true then he should be suspended or something, but it can't be proven and I don't think it is true anyway. The information she has given about that is so vague and the sources could be pretty much anyone with an axe to grind.

You are right in that she is trying to make this a bigger deal than it is. No one likes A-Rod and few people ever will but it also told me a lot Doug Meintisitisishswiz came out and said he did not think A-Rod did steroids in HS because that is a person who has credibility in my book.

I think she is trying to re-publicize the book and realizes everyone is over the steroid issue for A-Rod so no one is buying the book, so she and SI are trying to get more stories out there in the hopes to sell books.

When she comes out with actual, new evidence I will listen, but at this point I don't know how much credibility she has in my book. The more info I hear, the less I am inclined to believe it.

I think I need to make myself have to use a word verification, you get some interesting words.

Yeah, a year ban from the game, assuming Selig has the balls would be good, maybe even a harsher penalty if they wanted to send a message. Unfortunately, it will never be proven even if it did happen, and Selig would never get rid of A-Rod for a year b/c I think he still wants him to break Bonds HR record, regardless of steroid use or not.

Actually Chris, not annoying at all, just shows you're passionate. Most of us BotB types seem to haev favorite teams, but jsut love sports in general. After the Panthers self-destructed against the Cards, Ben took it as well as anybody I've ever seen. I agree that if he was tipping, he should be suspended, AND the guys he tipped should be suspended to if they took part in all of this. Seriously, the guys (and gals too, are there any BotB gals?) here are all more upset about the tipping then any PED implications I think. It might be me, but I always thought of steroids, until actually banned in the League/Players Contract, were cheating along the lines of corking a bat, stealing signs. Yes they hurt the integrity of the records of the sport, but until the two sides agreed on a ban, deal with it. Hell yeah I want my slugger using them if it can help me win games as a pitcher. I figure guys on the other team are too. Fire with fire and all that.

Tipping pitches though, that attacks the integrity of the ball game itself to me. It creates an imbalance due to pre-meditated cheating against your own team. Do what you want to help us win, but I'll shank you if you're screwing us over.

Martin, like most horrors you get to experience in person, I blocked the image of Jake Delhomme constantly throwing to the other team and Larry Fitzgerald running wild in the secondary out of my mind. That's how I took it well.

I don't think there are any BotB gals or anything yet. I thought steroids was cheating like corking the bat as well but until they actually decided to put it into the contract, really neither side wanted to do something about it and that is the fault of baseball as a whole. I would prefer my favorite players not use them but I know it happened and it is kind of unfair to look at the players in an unkind eye when the entire sport ignored it.

Either way, I think pitch tipping is illegal and though they will never prove A-Rod did or didn't do it, there should be harsh ramifications for someone who does it. I can't think of anything worse than cheating your own team.

Oh and thought I'd point out that Bill talks about how far he walked with Rufus. He then mentions that he was in a bad neighborhood, and mentions Compton. Bill doesn't live anywhere near Compton. I live about 5 miles from Compton. He'd have to walk for multiple hours to get to Compton. He'd be dead from exhaustion long before Rufus the Dog would be. He'd pass through 5 areas of the city just as "dangerous" to him as Compton would be. He brings it up in his semi-racist Boston Guy form though because it's the only city that the Simmonistas would recognize, from NWA videos, and Boyz in the Hood, or other timely 80's and early 90's cultural reference.

It just pissed me off that he tossed that in there and that his Army of the Damned will lap it up. it's inaccurate, it's hyperbolic, and it just screams "I coulda been mugged by black people! I'm so distraaught over the Celtics loss I don't even care about my own personal safety!"

I know the a-hole walked down the block, stopped in the Starbucks, walked back around the block behind his house, and then circled back home. Gone about 45 minutes, but bent space and time in his imagination.

Haha...I laughed at that comment Martin. That's a really funny way to look at it.

"I went into a neighborhood full of minorities. Don't you see how upset I am? I left my comfortable white suburban existence and willingly went into a neighborhood with poor people, with my dog who easily could have been kidnapped and become a part of a dog fighting ring, because I was so sad about the Celtics. That's how much this hurt me."

Well I'm going to be honest, I haven't cared much at all about this Boston Chicago series. I've watched a little bit of some of the games, but since I have no rooting interest in any of the teams (in fact I hate both of them) and the fact we have local teams playing (Wings and Tigers) I'd rather watch them play then basketball at this point. So no Bill, this series has not gotten every single person in America watching the playoffs. I haven't heard anyone in this area talk about these games.

It's the 1st round, get over yourself. A week from now no one but Bill will remember this series, and Bill will only remember when Boston gets knocked out and blames it on having to play 7 games in the 1st round. Mark this down now, I'm calling this as his excuse why Boston will not make it past the 2nd round or 3rd round.

You know how many 1st round series I remember? 2. The Nuggets beating the Sonics...and Golden State beating Dallas. And I only remember them because the lower seed actually won.

Well the ARod book comes out today...I'll have to go pick up a copy and see how it is. I'm starting to feel like Chris now though, a little weary of the motives of this author. I have a feeling it will disapoint me just like the Josh Hamilton book did (did anyone else read that crap?). Anyone read the Roger Clemons book? That one was pretty good.

oh, i sent in my question to King...lets keep sending them till we see one of us make it.

Here is my question to him (and yes the first part is sarcastic):

Peter, love the column, it's such a great read every single week. I wanted to know your thoughts on Ray Lewis. According to you, LB's like Curry shouldn't get paid the big bucks unless they sack the QB. Does that apply to Ray Lewis? He averages less then 2.5 sacks a year, yet is the highest paid LB in the game. What about Dansby, Brooking, Bulluck, Urlacher, etc? Guys that get paid big bucks but don't sack the QB. Are those guys just over rated LB's that don't deserve big money?

I always thought Rufus was an interesting name for a dog that was owned by Bill Simmons. I thought he would name the dog after one of his favorite sports stars or one of his pop culture heroes.

That is exactly what irritates me AJ is that Bill tries to make the Celtics series mean something for every fan of sports, when it doesn't. Then he tells you Game 7 was like the NBA Finals for Bulls and Celtics fan, which is also not true. He has this massive ego that makes him think he speaks for everyone when he really doesn't. He has already given up on the Celtics to beat LeBron and the Cavs, so you are right, the excuses will flow soon.

If you read the book, give us a book report on it (I am kidding) because I am not going to read it. I did not read the Josh Hamilton book because I am kind of Hamilton'ed out at this point. I feel like his story has been told sufficiently at this point.

I also haven't read the Roger Clemens book by Jeff Pearlman yet. If that is the one you are talking about. I did not want to read "Love Me, Hate Me" b/c I was tired of Barry Bonds, but then I got it from the library one week and finished it within 3 days. I don't say this just because Pearlman bashed ESPN when he left, did an interview with FJMariotti or actually returns email sent to him with an actual replay, but he writes great books. I plan on reading the Clemens book by him, I would guess it is excellent.

Also, I am going to send a question in today after reading Peter's column. Man, he posted that thing early today! I think we will get published at one point, if we send enough questions in like yours.

I have read the Hamilton book, then read the Rocket book, I'm just about done with the Love Me Hate Me Bonds book, then I'm moving on to Torre's book, then Canseco's two books.

I did not like the Hamilton book just because of the way Josh came off. It just seemed like he was full of himself, and the whole book came across as bragging and a big ego trip. It just seems to me like he never came to terms with exactly what set him off, and never really fully blames himself. I don't know, just something about the book has made me not like him. I figured it would be the other way around.

Oh yeah, Hamilton does have a little bit of an ego. He was all hot shit here in North Carolina when he was drafted. I would have to read the book, but it would not shock me if he didn't blame himself.

I really liked Love Me, Hate Me though and I keep trying to get my hands on Pearlman's Cowboys book at the library. I watched Selena Roberts on MLB Network last night and she pretty much said the same stuff she always has said.

I went into the Bonds book pretty impartial because I never really hated the guy and never really liked the guy...and I left after reading the book feeling the same way. It had a lot of good information on Bonds in it and what an asshole he could be. I was actually shocked at how rude he really was to his teammates and the world in general.

I think one thing that hurt Bonds more about the steroids then otehr users was that Bonds was such a big a-hole before any of this came out. it jsut gave people a bigger reason to dislike him so much.

Pearlman writes entertaining books. His normal articles are pretty good too. It's when he walks over into the more hard stat areas of some sports that he slips up. But, he has an open mind and doesn't dismiss stuff out of hand. In ways he reminds me of Whitlock, in that I often really agree or enjoy what they write, and then other times I go "WTF?" That is much more enjoyable then anything Peter King does though...or Gregggg, or Doyle, and most of Simmons.

Bonds has always been and will always be an asshole. You are right that it just gave the public another reason to hate him. Almost as if the hatred they had for him was justified by the fact he cheated. It's fine to hate a cheater so the public took a lot of the hatred out on Bonds.

I don't intentionally stay away from Pearlman or anything, but generally he does write pretty good stuff. I have seen a couple of articles I could probably nitpick but overall his body of journalistic work is incredibly readable and his books don't engage in the Selena Roberts tactics we are currently seeing.

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